The Father's Heart

I took a risk this past Sunday but one nudged by the Holy Spirit. After 18 years at Christ Church I told my congregation, “I am blessed to continue serving as your pastor, but today I also commit myself to be a spiritual father.” Why this offer?

We live in a world of spiritual orphans! The hole in people’s hearts is so often the result of a deep wound from a father – neglect, abandonment, abuse, harshness, unfaithfulness – you know the list! There are plenty of other experiences in life that can cut to the core, but the impact of a “father wound” is especially devastating because these experiences are almost always correlated with God.

That’s why Jesus not only “redeemed us” by paying the price of his life, but “reconciled” us to the Father, restoring a relationship broken by sin. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:15-17a)

Friends, through the miracle of the cross we have become sons and daughters of a heavenly Father and brothers and sisters with Jesus and one another! We’ve been adopted into God’s family so that every earthly wound from our past can be healed.

Your Father’s love for you is so amazing! The disciple John wrote, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (I John 3:1a) Don’t let your past experiences define you any more. Don’t let the world press you into its mold any longer. You are not the sum of your history or the opinions of others no matter how hurtful! You’ve been given a new set of credentials.

In Jesus you are a “new creation,” a child of God, the son or daughter of the King, and your heavenly Father’s gift to you is inner healing. That’s why the Apostle Paul prayed, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” (Ephesians 3:14-16)

Strength and healing from the inside out! We can’t do this ourselves no matter how hard we try. And what strength will this be? As a child of God, his Spirit dwells in you, your identity is established in him and you receive power to experience the full measure of God’s love in Jesus Christ. The hole in your heart can only be filled by this healing from above.

Paul saw these wounds in the lives of the young Christians at Corinth. And so he said, “Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.” (I Corinthians 4:15-16)

To experience the kind of transformation and growth that God desires for our lives I believe that we must know our heavenly Father first, and then, we must each have some spiritual fathers (and mothers) here on earth who are willing to say, “I urge you to imitate me.” Not perfect… but willing to put it all on the line for Jesus! More than a guardian… a father.

I’m blessed to have two amazing earthly spiritual dads; my father, Gary Pagh, and my mentor, Ed Silvoso. They not only love me but they encourage, challenge, lead and call forth the best in me. That’s the kind of father I want to be both for my family and for my congregation, Christ Church. When I made the offer to be a spiritual father something shifted in me and in this local church. I pray that God will use it to bring breakthroughs for individuals, families and the kingdom of God.